# Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati

Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati (Arabic: عبد الوهاب البياتي) (December 19, 1926 – August 3, 1999) was an Iraqi Arab poet.

## Biography

Al-Bayati was born in Baghdad. One of his friends, Ahmed Abdel-Moeti Hegazi, said urban centers of "hotels and institutions, cafés and airports" were actually his temporary residences. He attended Baghdad University, and became a teacher after graduating from Dar Al-Mu'allimin (the Teacher's College) in 1950, the same year that he released his first collection of poems, Mala'ika wa Shayatin (Angels and Devils).

## Sufis

Al-Bayati was influenced by the Middle Eastern Sufi figures. One example is a poem by Al-Bayati entitled "A’isha's Mad Lover" in his book, Love Poems on the Seven Gates of the World (1971): "In this context Al-Bayati’s poetry becomes Sufi in default, since he assumes the position as a modernist whose aspirations for an earthy paradise have not materialized."

## Works
### Original volumes

* Mala'ika wa shayatin (Angels and Devils), 1950
* Abariq muhashshama, 1954
* Risala ila Hazim Hikmet wa quas'aid ukhra, 1956
* Al-Majd li al-atfal wa al-zaytun, 1956
* Ash'ar fi al-manfa, 1957
* Ishrun qasida min Berlin, 1959
* Kalimat la tamut, 1960
* Muhakama fi Nisabur, 1963
* Al-Nar wa al-kalimat, 1964
* Sifr al-faqr wa al-thawra, 1965
* Alladhi ya'ti wa laya'ti, 1966
* Al Mawt fi al Hayat, 1968
* Tajribati al-shi'riyya, 1968
* 'Ulyun al-kilab al-mayyita, 1969
* Buka'iyya ila shams haziran wa al-murtaziqa, 1969
* Al Kitaba al Teen, 1970
* Yawmiyyat siyasi muhtarif, 1970
* Qasaid hubb 'ala bawwabat al-'alam al-sab, 1971
* Sira dhatiyya li sariq al-nar, 1974
* Kitab al-bahr, 1974
* Qamar Shiraz, 1976
* Mamlakat al-sunbula, 1979
* Sawt al-sanawat al-daw'iyya, 1979
* Bustan 'A'isha, 1989
* Al-Bahr Ba'id, Asma'uh Yatanahhud (The Sea is Distant, I Hear It Sighing), 1998

### Translated volumes

* Lilies and Death, 1972 (trans. Mohammed B. Alwan)
* The Singer and the Moon, 1976 (trans. Abdullah al-Udhari)
* Eye of the Sun, 1978
* Love Under Rain (Al-hubb tahta al-matar), 1985 (transl. Desmond Stewart and George Masri)
* Love, Death, and Exile, 1990 (trans. Bassam K. Frangieh)

### Anthologies with only works by Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati

* Poet of Iraq: Abdul Wahab al-Bayati. An introductory essay with translations by Desmond Stewart, 1976
* Abdul Wahab al-Bayati, 1979 (a short introduction and four poems, trans. Desmond Stewart and George Masri)

### Anthologies with works by Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati and other poets

* Abdullah al-Udhari, ed. and trans. Modern Poetry of the Arab World. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1986.
** An Apology for a Short Speech
** The Arab Refugee
** The Fugitive
** Hamlet
** Profile of the Lover of the Great Bear
** To Ernest Hemingway
* Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed. Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987
** The Birth of Aisha and Her Death
** Eligy for Aisha
** The Impossible
** Luzumiyya
* Simawe, Saadi ed. Iraqi Poetry Today, ISBN 0-9533824-6-X London: King's College, London, 2003
** The Dragon
** An Elegy to Aisha
** I am Born and I Burn in My Love
** Love Under The Rain
** The Nightmare
** Nine Ruba'iyat
** Shiraz Moon
** Three Ruba'iyat
** To Naguib Mahfouz [Amman, 15 April 1997]
** To TS Eliot
** Transformations of Aisha: Aisha's Birth and Death in the Magical Rituals Inscribed in Cuneiform on the Nineveh Tablets
** Two Poems for my son, Ali
** Who Owns the Homeland?
* Writing on Aisha's Tomb